Stephanie Morrill Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.

A: I’m Stephanie Morrill, and I live in the Kansas City area with my husband and our three children. I’ve been writing stories since elementary school, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have six novels published. The first five are young adult contemporaries, and my latest is The Lost Girl of Astor Street, which is a YA historical mystery. In addition to writing, I run a website to encourage and teach teen writers, GoTeenWriters.com.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

A: I’ve wanted to be a writer since first grade. My elementary school encouraged writing time and we had freedom to write whatever kind of stories we desired. Then a parent volunteer would type our stories up for us, and we could pick the color for our cover and the binding. At the end we were supposed to illustrate it (I was awful) and then read it to the class. I loved it so much, and after that I always wanted to tell stories for a living.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?

A: I could talk a long time about this! I’ll try to be brief. Like I said, I knew from the time I was in first grade that I wanted to write books when I grew up. My junior and senior year of high school I became very serious about getting published and started mailing my manuscripts to publishers. Like, literally printing out copies and putting them in envelopes and hoping for the best.

Clearly I had a lot to learn!

I didn’t know anyone in publishing—I didn’t even know that the stories I wrote were YA—and this is before the days of writing blogs and online writing communities. Or before they were very big, anyway. I learned everything by doing it wrong the first time!

I started attending writing conferences in my early 20s and that made a huge difference. That’s how I built a network of writer friends, and how I met my first agent. I sold The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt series to Revell in 2008, and those books came out in 2009 and 2010. I released the Ellie Sweet books and my first nonfiction, Go Teen Writers: How to Turn Your First Draft Into A Published Book, which I co-wrote with Jill Williamson, in 2013. I learned that three books in one year was a bit much for me!

Due to one of my sons being diagnosed with epilepsy, I took some time away from writing. I wasn’t good at this. I was spinning my wheels, still trying to write, but I wasn’t making much progress on anything.

After a friend counseled me to take time off to consider what I wanted to write, I landed on finally writing The Lost Girl of Astor Street. I had the idea for it months before, but I hadn’t felt brave enough to write it. Writing my first historical and my first mystery took much longer than I thought it would, but the investment was well worth it!

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release The Lost Girl of Astor Street?

A: The Lost Girl of Astor Street is a 1920s mystery set in Chicago. The main character, Piper, has a best friend who goes missing from their affluent neighborhood, and she knows her friend never would have run away. She throws herself into search efforts, and finds more than she bargained for. It has a Veronica Mars meets 1920s feel.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for The Lost Girl of Astor Street?

A: My initial idea for The Lost Girl of Astor Street came while I was putting away laundry, of all things. My mind was wandering (as it often does during chores), and I started thinking about different stories I like. I thought about Veronica Mars for a while, and then something triggered a thought about Downton Abbey, and I thought, “I wish there was something out there that was like Veronica Mars but in a Downton Abbey kind of setting. Oh, maybe I could do that!”

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?

A: The lesson I was learning as I wrote it is that we can only take responsibility for our own choices. It’s wonderful to try to stir change in our communities, but ultimately we can only control our choices.

Q: What inspires you to write?

A: Like most writers, I get story ideas all the time. I’ll be at the grocery store, and I’ll overhear a bit of conversation. Or I’ll drive past a boarded up house and think about people who used to call it home. Not all the ideas stick, but a lot of times they start sticking to each other and building momentum.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?

A:  I’m in the middle of edits for another book that is set in the same story world as Piper’s and has some overlap, but is a separate story. I have ideas for another Piper book, and I’ve done a tiny bit of writing on it, but I really want to make sure that it’s the right kind of sequel.

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?

A:  I have three kids, so usually if I’m not writing it’s because I’m chasing after them. I love to read, of course, and I also enjoy cooking and running.